POL-115: American National
Government and Politics

American National
Government and Politics examines the features of American politics with
the goal of preparing you for lifelong political participation and
observation... whether or not you're a political science major or plan
to become a politician!

First, we will
examine the philosophy behind the structures of government in the
Constitution--in other words, why they were set up the way they were.
Then we will study the policy making process--which we can hope will be
relevant in a year without national elections--as well as some
currently important policy issues.

Recent
writing assignments have included finding information about a current
national policy issue, comparisons of candidate web sites,
and letters to
newspapers and members of Congress. The goal is to have students
practice the types of research, speaking and writing they might be
doing in the rest of their political lives. There are also three exams
during the semester, one on each section of the course. Students are
further credited for participation in classroom discussion.

American National Government and Politics is a prerequisite for
advanced American politics courses needed for the Political Science
major or minor. It counts in the "Social Science" category for
fulfilling general education requirements.

American Government Links

Sources of current information:

The New York Times: a newspaper with articles that have the advantages of being
both current and thoroughly written.It is
available in hard copy—on shelves in the library periodical room—or
online. At the Times website,
you will need a password, but access to the current day’s issue online
is free. At the library webpage,
you can search recent editions with Lexis-Nexis.

CQ Weekly: a journal that exhaustively covers Congress and policy
making. Available electronically through the library webpage.
Look under “Databases by Subject.”

Economist: London based weekly
with interesting on commentary on American politics among other
subjects. Hard copies in library.

National
Journal: general coverage of American
public policy, focused on Washington.Available electronically through the library webpage.
Look under “Coe Journals.”

Wall Street
Journal: Excellent coverage of news,
including government policy, affecting the world of business and
finance. Notoriously loopy editorial page, but that need not concern us
here. Free access to today’s paper online, print copies in
library.

Washington Post:described as a “great local paper” for the center of national
policy making.At the Post website, you will need
a password, but access to about three months’ worth of back issues is
free. At the library
webpage, you can search recent editions with LexisNexis or Ebsco’s
Newspaper Source.